EU sees fund manager bonuses as next target after banker curbs

Both the EU and the U.S. missed a January 2013 deadline to begin phasing in the Basel III rules, which are scheduled to fully apply from 2019.

Barnier has called for the EU to begin applying Basel III from next year, to correspond with plans in the U.S.

The Basel III package more than triples the core reserves that lenders must hold against insolvency, compared with previous Basel standards.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, which brings together regulators from 27 nations including the U.S, U.K. and China, warned last year that the EU implementation plans may not be fully in line with Basel III.

The EU implementation plans must still be voted on by the parliament, and formally approved by national governments, before they can take effect.

Osborne, who delivered his annual budget to the U.K. parliament yesterday, is wary of extra financial regulation that may weigh on the British economy that’s at risk of falling into a third recession in five years.

U.K. Growth

He said the forecast for U.K. economic growth this year was cut by half as he lowered corporation tax rates and set out an updated central-bank remit to aid Britain’s recovery.

Barclays Plc, the U.K.’s second-largest bank by assets, said yesterday it paid nine senior executives 40.3 million pounds ($61 million) in bonuses, less than a year after the bank was fined for manipulating benchmark interest rates.

UCITS, or Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities, had more than 6 trillion euros ($7.8 trillion) under management as at April 2012, according to the European Commission.

Today’s parliament vote to limit the pay of UCITS managers is a mistake, Syed Kamall, a U.K. lawmaker in the assembly, said.

“It is vital that member states resist this hugely damaging initiative which will be bad for investors and for transparency,” Kamall said in an e-mail. “It is a wholly inappropriate initiative and legally unsound.”